LA VONNE – My journey into Mormonism and then Finally Freedom in Christ!

It is interesting how patterns repeat themselves and either pulls one into a false religion or maintains that false religion if they happen to be born into it. People are creatures of habit and will often mindlessly repeat patterns without searching out the choices they make. This is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, he tells us through His Word the Bible to search and test all things. As you listen to my journey look for the repeated patterns until truth set me free.

My journey began as a young girl being raised by a mother that loved me but didn’t know how to show it. She did not have God in her life and so did not know how to guide me to follow God’s will in my life. She was very controlling and often had rules that didn’t make any sense. Rules like you cannot wear jeans or eat certain foods. Her many marriages would cause me to feel excluded and unloved. Her ridiculously strict rules would eventually cause me to seek freedom outside of her control at an unprepared and early age. Continue reading La Vonne – My journey out of Mormonism to freedom in Christ→

My Mormon heritage goes all the way back to Joseph Smith. My genealogy crosses his genealogy. My beginnings were in a small town in Idaho. I went to church in an old stone building across the street from my house. Sundays were fun hearing stories about Jesus and getting a gold star on my forehead. We had a big family and lots of friends, all Mormon. I have fond memories of friendships and social gatherings.

When I was about six years old I was with my Grandmother Lucy in the basement of that old Mormon Church in Rigby, Idaho. Grandma was talking to another woman about Jesus Christ. I wanted to know more and kept bugging her with questions. She took the time to tell me about Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins and if we pray to Him and thank Him for His gift, He will be the constant friend by our side and we can live in Heaven. Continue reading Bev – Ex-Mormon→

As a child I attended a Baptist elementary school K-6 and attended church there as well. I continued attending Christian churches until I was a young adult at which time I was introduced to the Latter-day Saints (LDS) religion.

I was drawn to the LDS religion because they had answers to the questions I was asking. Their answers were logical and something I could wrap my life around. The religion was very structured and that suited my personality quite well.

As a natural born “wanna be,” I climbed the LDS ladder as quickly as they would allow. My husband and I were sealed in the temple one year after our baptism. For at least 13 of my 15 years as a Mormon, I carried and regularly used my temple recommend. At one point, I even served as the Stake Young Women’s President. Continue reading Mary – Ex-Mormon→

I was born to parents who had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was raised as a Mormon in a non-Mormon environment in rural Kansas. This presented many challenges including the exclusion from most activities that were not comprised of Mormon participants. I was thoroughly rehearsed in the mantra of defending the Church, its doctrines, and its leaders long before my mandatory baptism at age eight. I was never given the opportunity to compare my beliefs with other beliefs or to investigate other viewpoints. I was taught to “know” these things were “true,” because it was the prescribed process of indoctrination, now referred to by neuroscientists and psychological experts as “brainwashing” or “mind control.” Continue reading Phillip – Ex-Mormon→

I grew up in a splinter group of Mormonism called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Community of Christ or RLDS). At age 14, I was baptized into this church, but I was not saved at that time because being baptized into a church and being “born again” are not the same thing.

The RLDS splintered off of Mormonism when Brigham Young took the Mormons to Utah after the death of LDS (Mormon) founder, Joseph Smith, Jr. This group refused to follow Young and took Joseph Smith’s son (Joseph Smith III) to be its leader. Up until 1996 when the last male descendent of Joseph Smith, Jr. died, they had not ceased to have one of his descendents serve as president and prophet of the group. Continue reading Daniel V – Ex-RLDS→

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and raised in the Mormon faith. I was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood of the Mormon Church, but in my later teens, I stopped going to the Church. I left because of certain fallacies in their teachings on the power of the priesthoods they claim to posses, and on account of the poor way they treat Mormons who do not live up to their standards.

For many years, I believed that I didn’t need God in my life, but yet I still considered myself a Mormon. In 1997, I decided to reconsider having God in my life, but due to my past memories of the Mormon Church, I chose to start my search for the truth about God and what He had to offer, outside of the Mormon religion. Over the next couple of years, my search led me down many paths (including self-help books). Yet, I was unable to fill the emptiness that was inside of me. Continue reading Rob – Ex-Mormom→

My journey into Mormonism began when I was very young… I grew up in Protestant churches – Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian, to be specific. Although we were in church every Sunday, I don’t remember really being taught God’s word by anyone at any church. I also was not getting any teaching at home…. In fact, although my parents were staunch “church goers”, I don’t recall them ever using God’s word to guide me in any way whatsoever. As a result, when I got to my senior year in college and started feeling a need to understand God, I didn’t have any foundation to draw on. When I finally became desperate for answers, I made appointments with five Protestant pastors and one Catholic priest in hopes of getting answers, but not one of those men opened a Bible in my presence and said anything like, ”This is what God’s Word tells us.”

So it’s no wonder that when I ran into some Mormon missionaries and they had instant and very confident answers (although a bit odd sounding!) to my questions, using the Bible to answer me, that I became intrigued. Six months later, I became engaged to a young Mormon returned missionary and slid quite easily into joining his church. Continue reading Bonnie – Ex-Mormon→

As a former Mormon Bishop and member of the Church for over 32 years, I have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He had placed before my wife and I five years of spiritual and emotional trials, so that we may better know His grace.

The most enlightening and rewarding action a member of the Mormon Faith can do is precisely what they have been told to do: “Study the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Prophets of the Restoration”. From my personal family experience, one of the most dangerous elements of coming to know that the LDS Church is false, and certainly the most treacherous long-term effect of this knowledge, is the thought that, if I was wrong about the LDS Faith, is it possible that I have also been deceived by Christianity itself? I know the discouraging and depressing fear well from considering that as I had been so thoroughly deceived, maybe I encouraged the deception by my own deep desire for it to be true.

“…for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lambmany parts which are plain and most precious… Wherefore… after the book hath gone forth… there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.” —1 Nephi 13:26, 28, Book of Mormon

“And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.”—Doctrine and Covenants, Section 82:7

“In restoring the gospel, God againgave the priesthood to men. John the Baptist came… to ordain… to the Aaronic Priesthood… Then Peter, James, and John… came and gave… the Melchizedek Priesthood. Through the Restoration the priesthood was returned to the earth.” —Gospel Principles, p. 111 Continue reading Was priesthood authority restored through Mormonism?→

“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves… the same as all Gods have done before you….” —Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Joseph Fielding Smith, 1976, p. 346 Continue reading What would it be like to be a “God?”→

“Those without eternal marriage may be angels. Now, the angels will be the people who…did not have their work done in the temple… But if we …seal our wives or husbands to us… then we may become gods and pass by the angels in heaven.”—Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 51 Continue reading Will There be Marriage in Heaven?→

“Wetalk about Christianity, but it is a perfect pack of nonsense… it is as corrupt as hell; and the Devil could not invent a better engineto spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.” —John Taylor (3rd LDS Prophet), 1858, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 167 Continue reading Are Mormons Christians?→